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As a lover of the ensoniq fizmo synth, a synth I always wanted but the price of them I a bit high for me.
Anyone got some suggestions how to get a eurorack setup that can mimic the fizmo?
Many thanks Rickard

Hey there. Building my first rack and trying to follow the advice: build with a purpose. I have the intention to create percussive sounds with my build that I can sample / play / control in general with my Digitakt. I've found Plonk (looks rad) and I know I'll need some midi connections. Any suggestions for the rest of my Doepfer A-100 LC1 Low Cost Case - 3U (48hp)? I started to fill it up with an envelope, lfo, filter, etc, but figured I'd ask if any one has recommendations on plonk pairings.

Thank you.

Ha! Many thanks for the kind, but clearly over exaggerated, comments. ;-) Modular has definitely sparked a lot of musical activity in me, and I’m grateful that that this place exists to learn from and share. Cheers.

Plaits or Braids are great modules if you need bread-n-butter sounds in your case. They can do more. But to quickly dial in a bass or lead sound without reinventing the wheel is really helpful in live situations.

If you're buying digital modules for percussion, you might as well get something like a 1010 Music BitBox 2. You can play back up to 16 different sounds as well as RECORD IN SYNC. You can find them used in the range of around $400-500US. If you're not modulating your drums that much, it's worth it.

Hello !
My latest patch and a lot of Mannequins Mangrove

Some patch notes on my video !

EDITED Jul 21st 2021, 08:01

It's not going to happen. Eurorack is expensive to begin with.

You expressed interest in jamming with your group. How do you intend to stay in sync with them and in key with them? Speaking of key... how are you going to generate pitches? You would need to add something like a KeyStep controller to this.

+1 on all of Jim's comments. You'd be better off spending $300 on a Behringer Neutron and a Kestep or KeyStep Pro.

@gridless - or at least one of his older accounts - has been involved in scamming back in 2019. Be careful.

As far as I could read, this has surprisingly never been requested before but would be a big scroll/click saver for forum users: I don't see a way to jump to the last post of a thread on the forum, would it be possible to transform the [time] section of the "Today, [time] by [user] in [Forum Index]" message into a link leading to the last message, similar to what we can see on other forums ?

PS: lots of love for MG ❤️❤️❤️ - I make my own hearts now :-)

Yes, I am right there with you. My synth adventure began in ernest about 18 months ago and I've hardly touched any of my guitars or basses or my drum set since. I sold off a bunch of stringed stuff (and a Ducati) to pay for synths, and I have absolutely no regrets about how synths and subsequently modular have affected my life, my musical tastes, my composition and my production. It's been the most awesome musical journey I have ever taken. You are so right that it can be all-consuming and I have to be conscious that it's a hobby and restrict play-time to after hours (or before-hours). But that's not always easy (it's 9:40 am and I should be working...).

Love your videos and the performance on the SH09 is excellent! Stay the course! Embrace the Crisis!

Hey Modularfriends,

here's a update on the Skiff. Thank you again for your recommendations now, and when I started out:

Small DIY Kit Rewiew:

Frequency Central Seismograf SD (Snare Drum):
- Full Kit ordered from https://www.exploding-shed.com/
- Came with all parts and pre programmed snaredrum chip
- Build Guide is a litte rough around the edges, at the end I was not sure how in which direction the control PCB is connected with the main PCB. I did look up some builds on instagram to verify my setup
- Aluminum panel has nice sharp white screenprint but a little chipped at the side. No issue for me but might be from interest.
- I switched out the knured nuts for Befaco Bananuts, looks dope!
- Sound and functionality are top notch. Putting in an audio rate square wave in the gate input is lots of fun.

I might get a second one with the Kick Drum chip.

Haha. I hate computer recording too. Burnt myself out on that around 2005. I think that’s why I focus on one-take experiments now. Believe it or not, I just use GarageBand and don’t use any VSTs or external plug-ins, just the compressor and eq included. I don’t even have the GarageBand sound library installed. I really just use it as a glorified tape recorder. I’m using some automation in the thing I’m working on now, but that’s about as far as I care to go.

record quiet and compress heavily
-- farkas

I tried to use the same technique a couple of times, but ended up heavy-handing stuff because I work too fast (I loathe using my computer for music) and it sounded like noise farts. You motivated me to give it another try though, I can't be always relying on "lazy people's VST's" that make things sound lo-fi with a single click :-)

BTW, how did you get to that delicious Lo-Fi sound with the track on SoundCloud ?

-- toodee

I ran the Prophet Rev 2 through the overdrive (just barely noticeable) on the Data Bender into one input on the DLD, and ran the output of the DLD's first channel into the QPAS filter with just a small bit of movement into the second input of the DLD. I recorded the track pretty quiet and then slammed the hell out of the compressor in my DAW and EQ'ed just a tiny bit. I think that was all I did on that one. I get kind of a Boards of Canada-style "dustiness" that I like when I record quiet and compress heavily. I always like just a bit of noise mixed into the pads on the Prophet too.
I do have an Orange Kongpressor pedal that I run some stuff through, but I don't think I used it on that track.
Thanks again for checking it out. It's nice to have like-minded folks to bounce stuff off of!

self-absorbed Dadaist art project
-- farkas

It's pretty much the only reason for me to make music as well, between mediation and creation. I chose to believe there's nothing wrong with that. And given the output of your self-absorbed sonic wandering, I am super glad you decided to share it, this second video is a super cool throwback at the 90's Jungle/D&B stuff I still love to this day ! MG now has its own Adam F

BTW, how did you get to that delicious Lo-Fi sound with the track on SoundCloud ?

Take care ❤️

Great! Love the evolving ambient layers of sound with your expressive keyboard playing on top. Very alive and organic.

Thanks systasis. I've been working on a more structured multi-track project, but keep finding the more improvisational and meandering music of chance is what I enjoy most. It's rarely interesting for the listener as it's more of a self-absorbed Dadaist art project. Haha. I figure I might as well put it out there in the world anyway. Thanks for listening!

Hey GarfieldModular. Thanks for your kind comments.

Ha! Remember that you should be getting at least 8 hours sleep a night for good health ;)

All of the tracks are recorded live on my modular in one take. I like the challenge of seeing what the synth can do as a stand alone entity and capturing a performance. You can see my modular here:
The only external device I have is a Strymon Volante delay pedal (which I love!)

Best wishes and sweet dreams

EDITED Jul 20th 2021, 09:46

Hi TumeniKnobs, thanks for taking the time to listen and give feedback. Much appreciated!

Nice! I really enjoyed listening to this. I found it very hypnotic and was transported to another place. The looping rhythmical sequence, dusty sonic textures and meandering 'flute' melodies....just my thing!

EDITED Jul 20th 2021, 09:12

Where would you mix your 10 or so audio channels?

how are you going to play this?

how are you going to listen to this?

modular drums are horrifically expensive and/or poor substitutes for drum machines

virtually no modulation or utilities - the most important modules in lots of ways

there are lots of manufacturers in the same price range as nifty for vcos and filters - and mostly with better reps - & yes I know that the vco and filter are a collab with a known manufacturer

Where is this panel available?

@toodee I went on a real Serge tear awhile back and that's a big part of the why, but the more proximate cause is that I really super love the VCFS (which I had first) but find it also has a pretty distinctive sound, and one that's kind of smooth rather than aggressive and super resonant. So, I wanted to have another filter to mix it up for when I'm building my own 303 (instead of relying on the M303) and to get a little more intense and a darker vibe. That said, I was looking at the rack today and wondering if a Plaits or a 4MS Ensemble Oscillator might make more sense over the VCFQ there, especially if I could sneak in something like a WMD C4RBN. Future plans, TBD!

Stepping back and putting aside my particular acid journey, they are both really unique and interesting filters that don't quite sound like anything else I've used, so if you're curious I would definitely recommend them both, and I have a ton of love for the R*S modules in general too. Hope that helps!
-- troux

Thank you very much for those explanations ! I'm really afraid of R*S because I think that if I start with that brand (the Res EQ has been on my radar for quite a while) I'd probably end up spending more than I should, they do offer very nice designs though, IMO a very nice balance of space and unique functionality. The only issue I have is that for this type of module and design (variable Q or slope is not something I'm used to) is that I would have to try them before buying and I have no way of doing that currently or for the foreseeable future. It's probably for the (financial) best...
I've also been trying my best to ignore that Sound Stage of yours, and the recent WMD designs because the part of my garden where I grow money has suffered from the summer droughts 😅

What are the parts composing your personal 303 ?

PS: now I'll just copy yours from this thread ❤️

I listened to another 4 tracks last night too, all good, ambient relaxation :)

Hi all,

I'm heading to visit a friend in Texas soon and I decided to take a pile of sequencers with me to spend some more time with while I am there. But for tonight i thought i'd give the rig a little rundown now that I figured out a few things with the big sequencer in the middle. You will find a simple jam that is sequenced by the five-12 seq, playing the Ts-L (sounds awesome and it is new to me), running through the C4BON filter (one of my favorite), and going through the bubblesound hex mix/vca combo running in ASR mode. The drum sounds are from the BIA, and the effects are the Happy Nerding FX Aid (so good). :)

Here is a link to the very basic jam... but hey, it's nice to get this device patching! :)

Hope you enjoy.
Brett

Hi all. I'm new to all this and would very much appreciate your opinions. Basically, I'm on a very tight budget and trying to set up a portable rack for groove/ ambient purposes and live jamming with my group.

I'm sure I must be overlooking some fundamentals. Thanks for any feedback!

• Pam's for clocking
• New Cre8audio modules (bang for buck)
• Envelopes, Amp & Mixing in the middle
• Pico drum set in the middle
• Mutable (enough said)

EDITED Jul 20th 2021, 05:23

Hi ModLifeCrisis,

Ha, ha, I love your videos, especially those introduction videos where you provide us first with a great introduction and then some cool sounds. Both video is funny and great and then those old Roland sounds, wow, to die for! Seriously nice to listen at :-)

Thank you very much for sharing this and kind regards, Garfield.

Hi Systasis,

Oh wow! This is something special. I am almost kind of speechless, that great :-) Did you manage to do this by modular only or did you had help from some external devices/instruments? Either way, very impressive!

I am going for the 2nd track of your album, starts impressive too, can't wait for the rest of your album, though I am afraid I have to wait till tomorrow since it's getting here not too far off from 5 am and I still want to catch some sleep ;-) Already now at the 3rd track, can't leave this, I must hear more, less sleep then but this is great! :-)

Thank you very much for sharing such a beautiful music with us and kind regards, Garfield.

Hi Wishbonebrewery,

Wow, yes! A jam that's longer than two hours, you certainly got qualified for the 17+ minute rule from Troux ;-)

Though I haven't listen at the entire 2+ hours, I have listen here and there quite a bit of it and I can hear your happiness while being busy :-) I sometimes also experience that you just can't stop, it's just too much fun to continue

He, he, I like those voice-samples you are using around 1h9m and 1h10m, fits great and gives a nice touch and variation to your track.

Thanks a lot for sharing this with us and kind regards, Garfield.

And of course, there's also THIS: https://vcvrack.com/ Best modular "explainerizer" ever. In VCV, it's impossible to wreck things. The worst you'll see are "spitty" outputs due to the package overtaxing your CPU and crashes...and those crashes also tend to happen for the same reason. As long as you keep an eye on the CPU load (VCV has the ability to meter each module!), you're golden. But VCV works pretty much like Eurorack...there's even VCV versions of a bunch of the more notable Eurorack modules in there.

Oh...and it's FREE.

Thanks for listening, and for the welcome back @GarfieldModular!

Hi Steve,

Nice long, relaxing track, yet great to listen at! Can you do more of this please? :-)

Glad to hear you are back with us together with your creativity! :-) Thanks a lot for sharing this with us and kind regards, Garfield.

Direct audio to the Fireface UCX? Sure, you can do that, but you won't need all those Tethers and Links since the UCX has no D-Sub audio I/O. But since the UCX also has lightpipe I/O, you could later attach an ADAT lightpipe interface that has the DC-coupled I/O that Silent Way/CV Tools/Volta/etc wants to use, and go back to that idea when it's a better fit. In that case, my suggestion would be the ES-8, with four inputs and eight outputs. But right now, you can just tie your audio outs directly into the Fireface UCX although I STRONGLY suggest you have an attenuatable stereo output module so that you can avoid clips due to the level mismatch between synth and pro audio levels. Something like, say, the Happy Nerding Isolator, which has the ganged stereo control and also has transformer isolation to help deal with hum and noise.

@farkas, nice, I'll give that some thought and let you know.

@TumeniKnobs, thanks! On this tune the bass and snare (or clap, I forget right now) are the Salmple and the hi-hats are the Hexinverter Mutant Hi-Hats whose sound I just can't get away from, I love em. The Salmple has a ton of different banks though so if you want another example you could check out this other tune I made a few days ago, same rack but different bank.

https://stevehand.bandcamp.com/album/poolside-acid

Hi TumeniKnobs,

Sorry that I was being away on such a great day you released a track of capacities like this! Wow, this is good and pretty serious stuff :-) When did you say your concert tour started and leave us here alone because you have no longer time to share your professional music with us? ;-)

I hope you will show us more of this kind of great compositions! Thank you very much and kind regards, Garfield.

OK...I did a bit to set up the general areas you'd want the various modules in. Note that my typical layouts put the audio sources and modifiers up top, modulation across the center, and mixing and effects in the bottom along with control systems. This allows for an "up on left, down on right" signal flow which makes the build much easier to patch and control.

You'll notice how the existing modules break up into the overall scheme. Also, if you don't already have that MIDI interface, you'll likely have a lot of trouble finding one as Doepfer discontinued it.

Now, one issue I do have is with the cab size. Those 84 hp rows are kinda tight, so it makes choosing just the right modules more important...and one way to choose is by function density. For example: there's a very basic Doepfer ADSR that fits into 8 hp. But if you put in one of their A-140-2 modules instead, you then get TWO envelope generators that work the same way (actually, the A-140-2 EGs also give you CV over time, which the A-140 doesn't have) in the same space. Note that there is a point where you can go too far with this; when you've gotten to a point that it's difficult to play the synth because the controls are all too tightly bunched, that's what "too far" looks like. But if you keep the density to somewhere within reason, you can majorly increase the build's capabilities without the need to go to a bigger cab, AND you'd still get more capabilities.

Hi TumeniKnobs,

Great a video from you! :-) A beautiful one too, nice to watch you at work at this lovely track!

Thanks a lot for the details and sharing this with us. Kind regards, Garfield.

I let the album play in the background this morning and really liked what I heard. I'm listening more closely now and like it even more. You've got some fantastic atmospheres/textures going on and there are a ton of out-of-the-blue change-ups that are surprising and really interesting. Nice work!

Loving the groove on this. The drums sound great - are they all Squid Salmple?

Hey @troux, let me know if you decide to go with Plaits. I was thinking about putting mine up for sale on Reverb because I haven't been using it. I'll be glad to sell it to you for a fair price.

In addition to your search for a tutor you could get a copy of the book "Patch & Tweek" (if you don'y already have it).
http://patchandtweak.com/
https://bjooks.com/products/patch-tweak-exploring-modular-synthesis

Lots of good info and patch examples. Helps me to understand the basic concepts.

The manufacturers who provide manuals with example patches I always find them useful and sometimes I need to study a little to understand what's going on.

really like that Vector Space and the Mimetic Digitalis but both appear to be out of stock :( lots of good suggestions so far but most of the modules aren't easily purchasable. thats Vector is wicked cool though!

-- tenebre6

Just did a quick check of Reverb.com. There's a new Vector Space in the UK going for $250US. The seller seems to have good feedback.

-- Ronin1973

appreciate it! looking to buy after 1 month once i figure out exactly what i want ;)

really like that Vector Space and the Mimetic Digitalis but both appear to be out of stock :( lots of good suggestions so far but most of the modules aren't easily purchasable. thats Vector is wicked cool though!

-- tenebre6

Just did a quick check of Reverb.com. There's a new Vector Space in the UK going for $250US. The seller seems to have good feedback.

I see you're using a lot of Erica TUBE/Fusion modules as well as the Plasma Drive. What is your power supply situation?

To add some interest... a Trigger Riot, for complex pattern generation might be fun for your drum situation.
A Worng Electronics Vector Space for complex modulation possibilities.
A Noise Engineering Mimetic Digitalis for adding some stepped CV modulation into the equation (lots of fun hooked up to the Trigger Riot).
-- Ronin1973

new rack has 5 separate doepfer PS. it was custom built with my modules in mind, so power left to spare :)

really like that Vector Space and the Mimetic Digitalis but both appear to be out of stock :( lots of good suggestions so far but most of the modules aren't easily purchasable. thats Vector is wicked cool though!

I see you're using a lot of Erica TUBE/Fusion modules as well as the Plasma Drive. What is your power supply situation?

To add some interest... a Trigger Riot, for complex pattern generation might be fun for your drum situation.
A Worng Electronics Vector Space for complex modulation possibilities.
A Noise Engineering Mimetic Digitalis for adding some stepped CV modulation into the equation (lots of fun hooked up to the Trigger Riot).

I have a BIA. I've always had issues getting it to play well with others... especially when trying to tune it.
Everyone starting out buys a Wasp Filter. Everyone then sells it.

For its feature set, the A-118 is pretty big. If you can find a smaller noise-generator like a 2HP unit, you can claim back even more HP.

I'd want the following:
A dedicated LFO that can sync and reset.
An analog VCO that can get down to LFO rate: like the Dixie II+
Utilities like attenuverters as well as another small mixer that can handle CV OR audio. You can do this with the Maths module. But you might consider a dedicated module if you find yourself choosing between using the Maths for this versus other functions.
A Disting EX as a jack-of-all-trades to experiment with or try different types of modulation or effects.
Two envelope generators. Maths can be used as two AD envelopes. But relying on Maths as an everything-module will limit your creativity.

I'm also a big fan of Ornaments and Crime. It can do a lot and isn't that bad to navigate for a menu driven module.

@farkas you are modest as always, looping experiments are just my cup of tea so my hopes remain high lol

Also @toobee, for some reason I can only get emoji to work here if I google them and copy it from the results page, so here's some hearts back, thanks for the love ❤️❤️❤️

@toodee I went on a real Serge tear awhile back and that's a big part of the why, but the more proximate cause is that I really super love the VCFS (which I had first) but find it also has a pretty distinctive sound, and one that's kind of smooth rather than aggressive and super resonant. So, I wanted to have another filter to mix it up for when I'm building my own 303 (instead of relying on the M303) and to get a little more intense and a darker vibe. That said, I was looking at the rack today and wondering if a Plaits or a 4MS Ensemble Oscillator might make more sense over the VCFQ there, especially if I could sneak in something like a WMD C4RBN. Future plans, TBD!

Stepping back and putting aside my particular acid journey, they are both really unique and interesting filters that don't quite sound like anything else I've used, so if you're curious I would definitely recommend them both, and I have a ton of love for the R*S modules in general too. Hope that helps!

EDITED Jul 19th 2021, 16:03

So, I just found out that me sending out hearts to @troux caused an issue in my message, but I don't care, I'm sending love with words then

I also had a question that got trimmed actually (if you can spare some time): I'm seeing 2 R*S VCFs in your setup, could you tell us more about those, why you have both and what they do for you compared to other filters you may have tried ?